From conferences and workshops to useful tips, articles and tools, Starlink items this month touch on managing stress, social justice & effective advocacy, community collaboration, resources for carers, ideas for educators, tips for managing teams or those challenging workmates ... and more.

A bit of a roller coaster ride of resources ... I hope you'll enjoy the journey. :)

The second is a lecture by Dr. Martin Rossman: Imaginative Solutions for Stress Relief. Much longer at 1.5 hours altogether (including questions and discussion) but well worth watching if you can find the time!

The Literary Advocate and Agitator: Writing And Creative Arts For Social Justice And Social Change

27 & 28 June, 2016Buda Historic Home & GardenCastlemaine (VIC)

Facilitated by Dr Jennifer Lehmann and Russell Deal OAM (both social work educators and practitioners with over 80 years' experience between them) this two day workshop is practical, skills-based and inspirational. You'll explore such questions as:
* How do we practise advocacy within our own organisations?
* How do we respectfully advocate on behalf of our clients?
* What are some creative alternatives to try in the face of persistent structures that disadvantage and discriminate?
* How do we skill-up our clients and our communities to advocate for themselves?
* What roles can humour play in social change?

Numbers are strictly limited to a maximum of 30 participants. Book early to secure your place

Chair Chi Training Program

The Level One workshop enables you to deliver a basic 30 minute Chair Chi session which includes gentle exercises and strategies that will help enhance your clients' emotional, psychological and physical wellbeing.

Level Two provides additional activities and includes a segment on Pain Management.

Level Three includes many additional skills to allow you to deliver a full one hour Chair Chi session, and also included components that cover sleep, anxiety and depression from a Tai Chi perspective.

Collaboration Training Manual

The Collaboration Training Manual is not a new resource, but is nevertheless a very useful one for all those interested in building and sustaining collaborative efforts to enhance community services. This online resource is a reproduction of an interactive CD-ROM Training manual developed for the National Network for Collaboration in the US.

This Framework is for people who want to learn to sustain community building through collaboration. It is for people who want to make collaborations more effective, while realizing specific outcomes. And it is for people who are invested in addressing an array of complex problems which resist “simple solution” fixes.

Better Boards Conference

It is "one of the largest gatherings of its kind in Australasia, it is a valuable opportunity for those responsible for the governance of their organisation to make connections, share ideas and gather information with other board members, chief executive officers and senior managers from non-profit organisations".

A separate but connected component of the Better Boards Conference is the Sprout Summit on 29 July, designed to "equip emerging leaders and change-makers with the practical tools, processes and insights to drive successful change and create positive impact in society."

This year's conference theme, Game-Changing Moves... Governing for Maximum Impact, "acknowledges the increasing number of boards, CEOs and executives that are creating new game plans as a period of Commonwealth and State Government driven transformational reform draws to a close".

Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding

This article is useful reminder for educators about alternative formative assessment strategies.

What strategy can double student learning gains? According to 250 empirical studies, the answer is formative assessment ...

Unlike summative assessment, which evaluates student learning according to a benchmark, formative assessment monitors student understanding so that kids are always aware of their academic strengths and learning gaps.

We like Robert Stake's definition of formative and summative assessments: "When the cook tastes the soup, that's formative; when the guests taste the soup, that's summative."

At the foot of the article there's also a link to downloadable checklist of 53 strategies to use in your classroom.

Out and About on the Web

Understanding Anxiety

Supporting Nutrition for Australian Childcare (SNAC)

8 Myths that Undermine Educational Effectiveness

The Biology of Positive Habits

6 Tips for Managing People Who are Hard To Manage

Managing teams is always an interesting challenge. Of course personalities are different, so each person needs to be managed individually, but there are nevertheless some general guidelines that can work in most situations.

Though not exactly rocket science, these tips nevertheless offer a good checklist to keep in mind any time you may be facing such a situation.

(Note: If you have an ad blocker enabled for your browser, you'll need to disable when you visit the Forbes site in order to read the article)

Family Goalsetting Tool

Developed by Autism Queensland, the Family Goalsetting Tool is for therapists, teachers, social workers and other specialists working with families with young children. It's designed "to help practitioners facilitate truly family-centred, holistic goal setting with parents/carers of young children (birth to early school years) with significant global developmental delay and/or multiple and complex needs".

There are two versions of the FGST available - one for families with children with disabilities, the other to help children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Resources for Caregivers

When someone with Alzheimer's won't take a bath!

Allieviating Bedsores Can Be Done

Home Care Today

Long Distance Caregiving

Employee Engagement - Who's Sinking Your Boat?

Here is a short video about employee engagement that may be of interest for some Starlink readers. It provides some interesting food for thought. Perhaps it could also be a useful discussion starter at a staff meeting?

"Ahoy! Did you know that 7 out of 10 employees are dis-engaged, and 2 out of 10 are actually trying to sink your boat? Watch and learn the latest employee engagement research, and learn what engaged employers can do to keep their organizations afloat."

Just for Fun - Some Definitions for Parents

Family Planning: The art of spacing your children the proper distance apart to keep you on the edge of financial disaster.
Full Name: What you call your child when you're mad at him/her.
Grandparents: The people who think your children are wonderful even though they're sure you're not raising them properly.
Independent: How we want our children to be as long as they do everything we say.
OW: The first word spoken by children with older siblings.
Puddle: A small body of water that draws other small bodies wearing dry shoes into it.
Show Off: A child who is more talented than yours.
Sterilise: What you do to your first baby's dummy/pacifier by boiling it and to your last baby's by blowing on it.
Top Bunk: Where you should never put a child wearing Superman pajamas.
Whodunit: none of the kids who live in your house...